IT'S HERE!

Halloween weekend is upon us!!! I am so excited, but so sad it's almost over. Tonight I'll be going out as the Pit Crew Girl from last year... though I think since we're adventuring to the Villas via bus and will be outside dancing in what may be a muddy yard, I'll probably switch out the Steve Madden stiletto boots for my trusty old comfortable UGGS. Haha. It will be dark and crowded anyways, so I highly doubt anyone will notice the difference. I am however excited as always for a legitimate excuse to wear my patent-leather-ish leggings!!!!

The Tinkerbell costume is ALMOST DONE! Finally. As of this moment I only need to add a few more darts so the fit is a little more snug and then add a jagged overlay on top of the tulle. I will be more than thrilled when it's finally ready to wear- my room and mental health have been a mess with this little adventure (Especially before Kel and I managed to get over the hump of the zipper misfortunes- who would have ever thought it'd take an Apparel major and someone who has been sewing since childhood THREE tries to get a zipper on right side up, front side out, and in the right spot!!! A little embarrassing, but it's ok, we got it eventually.)

Aside from that- I don't know if any of you have happened to hear about the latest "Octomom Controversy" but apparently everyone is in an out roar that she dressed as a pregnant nun for Halloween and dressed all of her littlest ones up as Devils. I'm sorry, I think this is absolutely hilarious. Let's just accept the fact that this woman is CRAZY and anything the media says about her, good or bad, clearly delights the hell out of her (Literally in this case?). I don't know why people like this are even relevant. At least this time she did something entertaining enough to get a laugh out of.

Side Note: Thank you SO MUCH to Kelly for letting me steal her laptop while she's not using it to update and do all that super fun online business school homework. I'm dying without my laptop and without you I don't know what the hell I'd do!

NEW MASCARA!

Alright Alright- I've pretty much convinced myself that the only things I've ever seen on advertisements or commercials that I've ever decided "Ohh, I'd like to have that" are cars, alcohol, occasionally food, and MASCARA. I don't know why, but they make those commercials so damn good every time that when I see them I've got to try it out.

The latest buy is L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara of Penelope Cruz fame. It's not QUITE as good as they make it out to be, and it really only looked anything similar to the commercial when paired with another mascara (I do this a lot... combine different kinds for volume/length/separation, etc).

Here's the telescopic with the other two I usually use: Rimmel London's Glam Eyes and CoverGirl's Lash Blast. I don't really like the Lash Blast unless it's applied OVER something because otherwise it is too difficult to remove. The Glam Eyes is great, but I usually throw on a little lash blast to add volume.

The Telescopic was a little difficult to put on due to the tinier brush, though that did help get all of the lashes, as the commercial claims. I also had a little bit of trouble with TOO much mascara coming out on the brush, so I kind of had to use the brush on the tops of the lashes to almost "comb" them out a bit.

Here's a close up of the Telescopic paired with the Glam Eyes. It is a lot more subtle when it's not right up close, which is good for day to day wear, but maybe not so much for going out.

Today I did the same thing, but without any eyeliner and very little mascara on the bottom lashes. It was hard to get a decent picture thanks to the quality of my camera phone and the lighting of my bathroom (and pardon the VERY sleepy under eyes) but I really liked the way it turned out in person. It looked a little more natural and subtle.

Overall I'd say I like the Telescopic, but it is quite different than it appears in advertisements, but I guess most things are. It definitely works best when pairing it with Glam Eyes. I look forward to trying it when I'm heading out this weekend and see what kind of drama we can stir up with it.

Halloween Decor

It's no surprise to any of my friends that I'm a sucker for ANY holiday, and I LOVE decorating and celebrating in anyway possible. Obviously Halloween is one of my favorites (Anything involving costumes is always the best), and I try to take full advantage of the month of October. We've got baskets of candy out, pumpkins, fabric leaves strewn about our living room, and even this adorable table runner Kelly made...

We also couldn't help ourselves at the grocery while strolling through the seasonal aisle and ended up buying this acorn decoration to hang above the stove and a fall/thanksgiving themed decorative towel to hang on the over. We think the squirrel salt and pepper shakers are probably thrilled with the new addition.

Another habit I try to get myself into around holidays is the sending of CARDS! My family has always been big on this, and I usually get a card from my mom, aunt, and grandma, at the very least, for every holiday from Valentine's Day to Christmas. My best friend Ashlee has also always been SO cute about sending cards for various holidays or sometimes just because, and I know how much I love getting mail so I always try to return the favor and spread it to others. Now, a card would not be sufficient enough from my point of view, and half the fun in sending them is decorating the outside of the envelope! Here are a few I sent out this week...

I found the sparkly little stickers at Joann's in the dollar section, so obviously I had to buy those. I think the funniest part about the holiday cards is picking out which cards to send to which friends. Jenna always gets some form of "Princess" card ever since she told me she wished people would just call her Princess all the time. I usually send my best friend Katelyn some card "For Moms" since she's been the motherly one of our group all throughout high school and into college taking care of us when we happen to find ourselves a bit too intoxicated. Once you get into it, sending mail for stuff like this is usually even more fun than getting it! :-)

I'm sure you'll all be getting an update of our Christmas decor sometime in late November- and I can assure you THAT will be a post worth looking out for, because I think Kelly and I just may be going all out this year for Christmas in the Jungle. I smell a possible theme of Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, stress the Rock. We'll be starting to get our Christmas cards together soon.

Stress Will Be The Death of Me.

As always my level of stress has built up from a million minor things that don't even matter, and I'm back to just wanting to curl up in a ball in my big comfy bed until the semester is over. This semester is flying by, which is generally good, but with ICORE it just means the looming realization of finals and the dreaded case. I will be SO glad when that is all over. This no computer thing is really starting to cause anxiety not being able to keep up with the little things for school without hanging out in the business school computer labs (as I am now).

In other news- I bought the most wonderful sweatshirt from Target yesterday. It's a relatively thin but very warm material, with the SUPER soft insides that I'm absolutely in love with. Plus it's got a lower neck so I don't feel strangled when I wear a scarf with it, and it nicely shows off whatever I wear underneath. Here I'm also wearing the extra-long ribbed tank I also got from Target.

New Addition to the Wonderland Blogging World

So I've decided to branch off (Thanks for that idea Nickie- as if I need to spend more time on here ;-P) and add another blog dedicated entirely to all the cooking we do around our apartment. Since my computer's down, it will probably take a bit to fully start up, but hopefully I'll get an entry or two in by the weekend. Now hopefully I can just keep the two straight....

Creative Cuisine- Alex in Wonderland Side Project

Unhealthy Obsession With Cowboy Boots.

I guess I've never really thought about it until last night, but I truly do wear these boots damn near everywhere. Not necessarily all the time, but they've had quite their share of bonding time with my feet. I got to my friend's last night to have one of my guy friends asking why I was wearing cowboy boots, only to have all my girlfriends respond with "What? She ALWAYS wears those!" They're actually surprisingly warm for winter, but go great with short summery sundresses, so ta-da... year round Taylor Swift-esque style, I suppose.

Gap 3/4 length cardigan
Forever 21 Strapless Dress
Old Navy Grey Leggings.
(These actually have a zipper detail at the bottom that I wasn't sure about but now LOVE, though you can't see it with the boots on)

This picture was from friday night. I didn't manage to get a picture of the full outfit from last night but it involved a t-shirt style blue dress from old navy that cinches at the waist, black leggings, a metallic grey belt, and the cowboy boots. I think I'm really just a fan of the contrast between the black leggings and chestnut boots....

I think I've had a million people ask me where I got these, and surprisingly enough, they are actually from a real Western store. So given, they weren't the cheapest shoes, but they're actually surprisingly comfortable if you're not walking a TON, and completely durable, so they're all up for the wear and tear of nights out drinking.

Lily, My BumbleNiece

Spent last night hanging out with the old crew from High School over at my best friend Emily's house for her 21st, and got to see my favorite little pseudo-niece, Lily, in her first Halloween costume! She's going to be a bumblebee, and is absolutely precious!

Her costume even has a little stinger on the back of it!!!

We also, for the sake of old times, spent plenty of time sitting on the driveway drinking, and dancing to the White Stripes, Sublime, and E-40 (What a spread). And it wouldn't have been a proper reunion without as many (sometimes awkward) pictures as possible... I don't so much miss high school in and of itself, but being 16 and sneaking around with half gallons of Dark Eyes vodka? Oh yeah.

(You know you're best friends when someone says 'Just make the creepiest face you can' and you all unintentionally do the same thing.)

Laptop Update

It appears as though my laptop is suffering from some problem affecting the video card, which is apparently built into the motherboard (I'm really educated about computers, if you couldn't tell, ha) ... and thus will take up to 2 weeks to order/replace. Luckily our computer guy (Dr. Computer- Lonny Davis- for anyone in Newburgh/Evansville- completely recommend him!!!) says he'll do it at cost, since it isn't under warranty anymore. He actually built the laptop for me a little over two years ago, so I think he knows what he's doing.

Thankfully I'm not in absolute need of it this semester, as I NEVER have papers and the only online homework is minor and infrequent. Unfortunately, this will most likely be affecting my blogging for the next two weeks... so you won't be seeing much of me. (Disappointing I know. I'm just so mad that I finally get in the hang of regularly updating this and now I can't, haha).

But, with Halloween approaching I'm sure I'll be back with quite a bang and a million updates, so stay tuned.

New Kids in the Jungle.

I FINALLY Went and bought some of those adorable little African Dwarf Frogs they've been selling in the Eco-Aquarium's at Hallmark. The aquarium itself is pretty cool- you rarely have to change the water, never have to clean the tank, and only feed the frogs a few times a week. Plus they're SO damn cute.

I named the frogs Hayden and Rossi, after Nicki Hayden and Valentino Rossi of MotoGP fame. The snail, which I added later (They insisted that the aquariums didn't need snails and that's why they were no longer included, but seeing how dirty SOME of the ones in the store were I went and bought a $2 yellow snail from PetCo, whose color goes beautifully with the tank ;-) ) is named Stoner after Casey Stoner, the Australian rider for team Ducati. Ok yeah, it's a Hoover thing... we can't help but name all of our animals after racers.
Hayden (The bigger one) seems particularly amused with Stoner the snail, and has so far alternated between seemingly hugging him, attacking him, and using him as a couch of sorts. It's absolutely hillarious to watch them. You truly would not expect these tiny little things to be of any entertainment value and merely serve as a desk aesthetic, but they are constantly ALL over the place. When they're not, they're floating in the most awkward "Zen" positions... apparently a common habit for these frogs.



Easily amused? Yes. But you have to take your excitement in any sized dose as you can while you're working your way through business school. Plus, like I said, they're so cute (Though admittedly a little creepy at times) that you kind of just can't help it.

Tayla's First Night Out.

The new shoes have officially been broken in, and are luckily taking a liking to my feet. They've stretched to fit absolutely perfectly... though they're still a bit tight when flexing the foot which makes driving difficult, but beauty is pain, right?

Worn with Black Old Navy 3/4 Length Sleeved Dress, hemmed a bit shorter thanks to my NOT SO long legs that look even shorter if dresses get too close to the knee. ;-)